5 days ago
Alexander Dennis is just the latest chapter in Scotland's stripping
Vehicles continued to roll off the production line, but south of the Border, not in West Lothian.
The same fate now seems destined for ADL, with construction consolidated in Scarborough and the Scotland paying the price. Back in 1984 under Thatcherism, industry after industry suffered and factory after factory closed.
I recall driving from my home in West Lothian to Glasgow and it was a scene of carnage with Motherwell Bridge shut, Cameron Ironworks and Honeywell closed and Caterpillar pulling out. It seemed to be a case of last out, put the lights out on central Scotland.
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Of course, there was a recovery but not for every community and many are still scarred to this day. Moreover, areas which had been major engineering hubs since the industrial revolution suddenly became distribution and transport hubs, with a loss of skills and a huge reduction in pay for workers.
Now it's Starmerism and the North Sea is in turmoil. The Grangemouth refinery has closed and it looks set to be joined by ADL.
And it's not just the Forth Valley and Aberdeen but all of Scotland that's suffering. While the support announced for the Acorn carbon capture and storage last week is welcome, there's no guarantee it will proceed to full development.
The investment in Faslane and the military is no basis for the development of a high-skilled modern Scottish economy and most certainly not for a safer world. Scotland is again being de-industrialised with jobs lost, skills going and people leaving. But it just shouldn't be this way.
The North Sea should be booming. Not quite at the levels of the 1980s but still capable of providing tens of thousands of jobs, at the same time as firms sell their skills and products elsewhere in the world and transition to renewables with which Scotland's also blessed. But that's just not happening.
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At Grangemouth, refining should be continuing for economic, environmental and fuel security reasons, all as it begins a transition to sustainable fuels for which its ideally placed. Yet that, too, has been abandoned, and Project Willow remains a mirage.
ADL's buses are of high quality and regular sights on Scottish highways and streets over the years. As well as diesel, it produces electric buses and has the skills to also provide hydrogen ones.
Now the danger is those skills will be lost. Every bus on Scottish roads will need to be bought from elsewhere and the cutting-edge technology for electric and hydrogen bus production for which Scotland is also ideally placed will be lost, too. What a tragedy.
But it's joining a litany of sectors where Scotland should be at the forefront but either lags behind or they don't exist any more, from other vehicles through to turbines.
Electric and hydrogen bus production should be part of the benefit from Scotland's renewable bounty and part of an industrial strategy for a modern economy for our nation in the 21st century.
It's not hard to join the dots. We have a huge resource in renewable energy with electricity coming out of our ears and we're the base for 100% of the UK's green hydrogen. There are turbines on our hills and off our shores and using what they produce should allow not just for cheap energy for our homes and industry, but cheap fuel. As well as addressing our need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it should cut the costs of public transport.
The electricity is already there, and hydrogen is coming on stream. A hydrogen plant is planned for the Ineos chemical site in Grangemouth which, of course, could provide fuel for buses or other uses.
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All across Scotland similar constructions are taking place. Many are driven by the whisky sector decarbonising not just distilleries but also maltings. Others are simply taking advantage of the surfeit of renewable energy which the grid cannot cope with, and hydrogen production is a no-brainer.
Rather than being a resource to exploit for the transmission of energy south, Scotland should be benefitting from the jobs that should be clustering or here. One sector for sure is electric and hydrogen buses.
But the governments in both Edinburgh and London have let the industry and its workforce down. The UK is being flooded by cheap Chinese buses. It is part of a plan to wipe out the local competition, with only three locations having had the skills – Ballymena, Falkirk and the north of England. Now it'll just be two.
The UK Government has failed to act against the predatory imports or properly allow for local benefit and social costs to be factored in. Labour attacks on the SNP for allowing Scottish buses to be bought from China are undermined by Sadiq Khan buying even more for London.
Scotland urgently requires independence to develop an industrial strategy to go along with its natural resources. We should be a manufacturing nation, not just a resource to exploit.
